Modern Authors Delve Into Digital and Visual Storytelling

Storytelling is one of humanity's earliest and most celebrated traditions. From the era of Homeric epics to today's 140-character Twitter updates, people have cherished telling and listening to stories in a variety of formats since the dawn of time — and in the digital era, everyone seems to be describing themselves as a storyteller.

For authors, journalists and creative writers, self-publishing platforms and the explosion of digital and social media is a game-changer. Twitter, Facebook, blogging — even newer platforms such as Vine or Snapchat — can all be valuable resources for authors trying to gain exposure, get published, respond to feedback and connect with fans.

As storytelling evolves to keep up with digital culture, authors are getting more and more creative with their online tactics, particularly when it comes to incorporating visual content into their written work. While a published novel or memoir might contain only text, a piece of content published online has almost limitless potential for creative, visual assets to complement the story. Below, we've compiled a few suggestions from authors and writers on how they utilize social to promote their work, brainstorm ideas and supplement their creative processes.

Facebook, Twitter and "traditional" platforms

Some authors create a dedicated Facebook fan page; others prefer to keep the conversation concise with Twitter's 140-character limit. Regardless, most writers these days are turning to social platforms in some capacity to promote their work, connect with fans and give new depth to their characters.

Green posts about a variety of subjects, focusing not only on his own work, but also on causes he's involved with, like the UN's World Food Program, for which he went on a recent trip to Ethiopia to raise awareness. Green gives his own voice to the issue and, in turn, builds audience engagement that goes beyond simple self-promotion. He utilizes a number of tactics — YouTube videos and vlogs, for example — to command audience attention and provide supplemental, visual content to his textually based posts.

Rainbow Rowell, author of New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park and an active social media user, utilizes her Facebook page primarily to update fans about upcoming events and book signings. Her Twitter account, on the other hand, is infused with a bit more of her personality and voice, retweeting fans and influencers and posting amusing anecdotes about everyday life.

"I think the best way to use social media to promote yourself is to post content other than just your writing on both your Facebook and Twitter pages," says Nihar Suthar, author of Win No Matter What. "Fans like to see your personality outside of just an author, and the more they can relate to you, the more they will follow you and read your work in the future."

To Suthar's point, authors probably won't grow massive Twitter followings by shamelessly tweeting "Buy my new book!" every 30 seconds — but there are several ways authors can get creative on social media to promote themselves and build an online community.

David Mitchell, for example, author of Cloud Atlas, published a short story entirely on Twitter entitled The Right Sort, as a creative way to promote his new novel, The Bone Clocks. This type of experimental storytelling certainly presents its own set of obstacles — the story itself, though creatively executed, can be a bit hard to follow when reading on Twitter, forcing fans to be diligent about checking the account to follow along as the plot unfolds.

Some authors take it a step further and actually create social accounts for various characters in their novels, short stories or other work, effectively creating a social "world" in which fans can watch plot threads play out online, or interact with characters virtually. "One of the most interesting ways I've found to connect with readers is through Instagram and Tumblr accounts for my main characters," says Scott Bergstrom, author of The Cruelty. "[These accounts] contain none of the spam that dominates so many authors' social media feeds. I post original content, and I actively engage in the community with likes, mentions and re-grams of other people's fantastic content." The visual nature of sites like Instagram and Tumblr can help fans and readers conceptualize characters and settings — and authors can provide as much of a complete picture of these various aspects of their work as they wish, leaving either very little or a great deal up to the readers' imaginations.

When it comes to building a fan base on these platforms, some fans will naturally gravitate to their favorite authors' social pages. For novice authors or writers hoping to build an online community from scratch, however, there are a few steps to take to boost fan and follower counts: Be sure to include Twitter handles and Amazon links in author bios, on business cards, on any marketing collateral and certainly on websites or blogs; hosting and participating in Twitter chats can also help effectively build an audience; lastly, visuals are key in both blogs and social media posts — including high-quality and interesting photos, images and videos can help boost engagement exponentially.

The key for success on social media is often patience. Unless you're a bestseller, well known or especially hilarious and adept at Twitter's 140-character snark, it's unlikely that social accounts will blow up overnight and without substantial effort.

Blogging and guest blogging

Keeping a blog is a pretty common-sense endeavor for an author — provided you have the time and desire to update on a frequent (weekly, at a minimum) basis. Author blogs can function as informative or creative — the content can be as simple as providing fans with information on book tours and signings, or as complex as alternative plots or extensions of previously published works.

The latter option presents a particularly intriguing concept — no longer does a story have to end after the last page of a novel. Authors who wish to capitalize on the success of a book or who want to revisit certain plot lines or characters that weren't developed fully in their published works can utilize blogs to continue the story well past the publish date. There's a reason why there are entire online forums, websites, online games and even IRL leagues devoted to J.K. Rowling's beloved Harry Potter series: People love the chance to escape reality. If you, as an author, can provide an online space for them to do just that — that just so happens to simultaneously raise awareness about your work — you just might hit a goldmine.

Including visuals within blog posts can further improve shareability, break up long blocks of text and engage fans. Authors can get creative when adding visual content to their online writing, in the form of book covers, sketches, photos and even videos, which can all be helpful assets to include in an otherwise textually heavy post. Instagrams, which can easily be embedded into such posts, are an easy way to add flavor to an author's blog.

Social media for research and inspiration

Any well known writer probably cringes at the idea of receiving yet more pitches for upcoming work. However, every now and then, social media paves the way for the discovery of a rare gem or million-dollar idea.

Such was the case for Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, the book that sparked the movie The Social Network. "Ever since the movie 21 came out (based on my book Bringing Down The House about the MIT kids who took Vegas for millions), I’ve been getting about ten to twenty pitches a week; if a college kid does something stupid or crazy, I usually get an email," writes Mezrich in an email correspondence with Mashable. "The movie The Social Network began with an email I received out of the blue from a Harvard senior, which said 'My best friend co-founded Facebook, and nobody has ever heard of him.'"

The rest, as they say, was history: The movie — the screenplay was adapted/written by Aaron Sorkin — went on to gross more than $224 million worldwide and was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Mezrich continues to use social media for research and tracking down sources/sparking ideas for his current work. For an upcoming novel, Seven Wonders, the author conducted a great deal of the research using Facebook, Google and other online resources. "[The book is] a huge, world-traveling adventure about the Seven Wonders of the world. It links various ancient cultures and religions, and the research for it was massive," says Mezrich. "I used social media to link up with professors around the world who could instruct me on various aspects of each sight."

Using social and online resources for research purposes also helps authors visualize settings and landmarks they may not have visited in person — which, in turn, paints a more accurate and complete picture for the reader. "I used YouTube and various blogs to get videos of many of the places that appear in the book," says Mezrich. "To create the main character, an anthropologist with a lust for adventure, I went on various university websites until I found conversations by the type of people I wanted to model [main character] Jack Grady after — and I built him up from there."

Beyond Facebook and Twitter: The unconventional players in the social media space

Most people in the publishing world are familiar with the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. and their benefits and intricacies. Newer platforms, though perhaps not as obviously helpful as the social giants, can also provide creative outlets for authors to connect with fans.

GoodReads and Quora are both platforms that come up repeatedly in conversations with authors about how they use online platforms to connect with an audience. "I've been using Quora to get in touch with people who have questions for me; and GoodReads has a great online reading community," says Mezrich.

One thing is clear: A focus on visuals is dominating the social media landscape. Snapchat, Vine, Pinterest and Instagram all offer unique advantages and opportunities for promotion and engagement. Some authors pin book cover art for inspiration for their own upcoming projects, or keep a virtual "quote book" on Pinterest; others target college-aged students with Snapchat stories. Vines can be used for promotional purposes, or authors can call on fans to create mini videos depicting their favorite compelling scenes (in six-seconds, of course) from various works. Running these types of contests is an excellent way to raise awareness about a book launch or start a conversation among readers around a specific plot point.

On Tumblr and other visual platforms, authors can really think outside the box of traditional blogging. These visually compelling platforms present opportunities for authors to interact with their online community. "For me, one of the biggest challenges has been finding ways to engage while working on a new project," says Chad Hall, blogger and author. "Writing, to anyone but the writer, is a solitary business. It’s not very exciting until complete. How many times can you tweet, 'Big writing day'? How many photos can you post of a pad of paper or a keyboard?"

To further engage his online audience, Hall adds an artistic flair to postings by drawing book covers of various material he's reading onto his Instagram and Tumblr. "It’s not specifically about my writing, but it keeps people associating me with books while I'm working away at things that aren't very sexy to share. I also draw and share illustrations for my weekly blog," he says.

A variety of lesser known platforms and plugins can be helpful in conjunction with traditional social sites. "For promotion, I find that CredSpark and THiNKaha are great ways to take new angles on your content," says Karin Hurt, CEO of Let's Grow Leaders and creator of the blog by the same name. "CredSpark enables you to produce a free online assessment of your book, and THiNKaha is an inexpensive and easy way to produce an ebook of your very best tweets on a topic."

Storify is another tool that some authors and writers cite as helpful for online promotion and engagement. The free application enables users to create and display galleries collected from media around the web — authors can create a Storify of people interacting with their book or blog, and it can then be embedded into a Tumblr or website. "It's a great way to make a book launch feel like a community event, and it uses curated content, so you don't have to constantly create something new," says Eva Gantz, founder and writer at Giving Books a Voice.

While not all authors embrace social — Dave Eggers' The Circle, which examines the implications of a dystopian society overly dependent on social media, has been called a "scathing attack" on digital obsessions — there's little doubt that writers have a great deal to gain by establishing a visually compelling online presence. As authors adapt to an increasingly digital world, a little creativity has the potential for a big payoff.

How do you promote your written work online or visually using social media? Tell us in the comments.

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